CHAPTER XXXII.

1. The thirty-second subject is this, that, when a hen utters a crow in a house, or the cock crows. unseasonably, it is desirable that they do not kill it 1, and do not consider it a bad habit (fahl). 2. Because it is uttering that crow for the reason that a fiend has found a way into that house, and the hen or the cock, alone, does not possess the power (tâqat) that would keep the fiend away from that house, and the hen is going to give the cock assistance, and utters the crow. 3. Therefore, if any time the chance (ittifâq) happens in that manner, it is requisite to bring another cock, so that they

may drive away that fiend through the assistance of one another. 4. And if a cock crows unseasonably it is likewise not desirable to kill it, because the reason may be this which I have stated.

5. For it is declared in the good religion, that there is a fiend whom they call Sêg1, and, in every house where an infant exists, that fiend strives that she may cause some misfortune to come upon that house. 6. So it is necessary that they should keep a cock on the watch for her, so that it may smite that fiend and force her to the road away from that house.